Geology of Svalbard, Norway

©Harmon D. Maher Jr., Dept. of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE 68122-0199, U. S. A.

This site is very much under construction! More coming soon. Last update 8/22/01. At this time you are free to use this material for nonprofit educational purposes. For any other use please contact me. Thank you.

Index of contents:

• Introduction to the geology of Svalbard.
• Ongoing research project on the manifestation of a Cretaceous High Arctic Large Igneous Province (CHALIP) on Svalbard.
  • Initial description.
  • 2001 field report.
  • 2002 GSA talk.
  • Glendonite composite photomicrograph.
• Regional and plate setting of Svalbard.
• Notes on geology of Hornsund area (site # 2 on map). This area displays many of the major tectonics events that created and modified a late Paleozoic feature known as the Sorkapp-Hornsund high
• Report on Sarstangen area (eastern margin of the hinterland Forlandsundet basin, #1 on map).
• Report on Revneset locality (just NE of Longyearbyen and underlying the Central Tertiary basin east limb, # 3 on map).
• Geology of Bear Island This is a short virtual field trip of Bjørnøya, or Bear Island, situated half way between North Norway and the main island of Spitsbergen. The stratigraphy and Carboniferous tectonism (half graben development) is very similar to that on Spitsbergen, although the overprint of Tertiary tectonism is missing here.
• 1999 expedition to Billefjorden trough.
• List of references on Tertiary tectonism on Svalbard.
• Arctic sojourn: What is the attraction? This text attempts to describe why I've spent some 15 field seasons in Svalbard, and what can be learned there. It addresses the wealth of geology, the tenacity of life there, the importance of technology in the arctic, the joy of field work, among other things. For the time being the 219 slides that go with it aren't included here, only the words. It was written for a general audience, and if it is detailed geology you want please see the other related pages.
• Acknowledgements: If you want to know how this work was supported and whom else is involved then look here.

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